Ad Populos, Non Aditus, Pervenimus USPS 680020 Published Every Thursday OUR 110th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 48-110 Periodical – Postage Paid at Westfield, N.J. Thursday, August 3, 2000 Since 1890 (908) 232-4407 FIFTY CENTS New Lightning Legislation Aimed Devices Placed In Town Parks At Ending Early By DEBORAH MADISON Specially Written for The Westfield Leader To protect residents and visi- A.M. Trash Pickups tors from lightning during elec- trical storms, the Town of By JOSH HAMERMAN angered me. I see no reasonable ba- Westfield is installing Electri- Specially Written for The Westfield Leader sis for them (waste haulers) to start at cal Storm Identification Devices Imagine that you have just woken 5:30 in the morning or even earlier.” (ESID) in several public parks. up from a long restful sleep. You The complaints of town residents The devices sound an alarm to yawn and stretch as you usually do, on this issue have not gone unheard. warn visitors to the park to get and leave the comfort of your bed to With the help of Assemblyman and off of the fields and take cover eat breakfast and prepare for what former Westfield Mayor Richard H. when there is an approaching lies ahead for you at the office to the Bagger (R-22nd), the State Assem- electrical storm. tune of a garbage truck compactor. bly unanimously passed a bill aimed An ESID has already been in Suddenly, as you glance at the digital at constructing a mandatory pickup place at the Memorial Pool and clock, the green numbers 4:30 jump time schedule for garbage collec- Park Complex for several out at you. tors. The bill would force garbage months. Other locations, which You walk back to your bedroom trucks to stay off the road during will receive the lighting detec- and check your alarm clock. It is still hours that are deemed too early or tors this week are Gumbert Park, set to go off at 6:30 a.m. You realize too late by towns such as Westfield. Houlihan Field and Sycamore that it is really 4:30 a.m., and that “Westfield has a number of differ- Field. Two devices will be in- your garbage collector’s truck has ent private haulers, but only a small stalled at Tamaques Field. In- woken you two hours early. amount are involved in middle of the clement weather has delayed the This scenario has become com- night collection. However, this im- installation of the systems. monplace in the homes of a rising pacts a sizable number of people,” The ESID and devices similar amount of Westfield residents, in- stated Assemblyman Bagger. to it have been routinely used in cluding Mayor Thomas C. Jardim. However, due to the fact that the hundreds of golf courses across Cheri Rogowsky for The Westfield Leader When he was interviewed by The State Senate does not meet during the country for a number of MUSICIANS AT THEIR BEST…Jennifer Wright and a fellow member of the Terraplane Blues jam for a packed crowd Westfield Leader on July 25, he de- the summer, the bill has not become years, but Westfield is the first at “Sweet Sounds Downtown” last week in Westfield. The band, which is always popular with audiences, performed in clared, “I was up at 5:30 this morn- a law, and cannot unless the Senate municipality in New Jersey to a concert sponsored by the Downtown Westfield Corporation and the Westfield Area Chamber of Commerce. ing (due to trash collection) and it approves it. According to Mayor install the devices in public Jardim, “It seems to me something parks. that should breeze right through the A number of Mid-West areas Senate, but the waste haulers have a have also routinely used these Council Looks to Adopt Rescue Squad Pension very powerful lobby.” types of devices in their public This is not the first time that parks and school fields, where Westfield politicians have tried to severe lightning storms are a By Aug. 25 Deadline for Referendums on Ballot eradicate the early morning racket of more common occurrence, ac- garbage cans and trucks. In 1993, an cording to Rich Wills, of Edison- By PAUL J. PEYTON mum $1,150 deferred compensation the maximum amount. He said the Westfield Fire Department within ordinance was passed by the Town based Todd Harris Company, Specially Written for The Westfield Leader benefit if they achieve 90 percent LOSAP as proposed would have all the LOSAP. Council that limited waste pickup to Inc., the installer of the devices. With time running out to enact a attendance on their duty periods. members eligible for the maximum He said the auxiliary, or non-paid, between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Anthony The ESID at the Memorial pension plan for volunteers of the While members who make 70 per- benefit in their first year in the pro- police officers in town are likely not M. LaPorta, a Westfield Planning Pool, being centrally located to Westfield Rescue Squad, the Town cent or less of their duty shifts would gram. eligible for the pension plan, based Board member who was then on the the other parks, will serve as the Council is poised to introduce an be eligible for 80 percent of the Third Ward Councilman Neil F. on how he has interpreted the state Town Council, spearheaded efforts main switchboard to the satel- amended version of the plan approved maximum benefit, that number would Sullivan, Public Safety Committee legislation which enabled towns to to pass the ordinance as Solid Waste lite devices at the other parks. If on first reading last month. increase based on the number of Chairman, told The Westfield Leader initiate pension plans for emergency Committee Chairman. cloud to ground lightning is de- A special meeting is expected to years they have served on the squad. that the manner in which the ordi- services personnel. “The bill that was recently passed tected within a 0-10 mile radius be called on Tuesday, August 22, in Mayor Thomas C. Jardim said he nance was brought before the coun- In other business, the Town Coun- by the Assembly makes all the sense of the main device, all of the order for the council to adopt the would like a more gradual incline of cil prevented a discussion on includ- cil is set to take action Tuesday night in the world,” he said, “When I was satellite devices will sound an ordinance before the looming dead- members’ benefits before reaching ing volunteer members of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 on the Town Council, there were alarm. The siren will go off when line. numerous complaints about haulers the main switchboard has de- Since the ordinance was introduced waking people up. We passed an tected more than two lightning last month, the pension plan, called ordinance to stop it from happening, strikes within a 10-mile radius a Length of Service Awards Program Labor Commissioner Mr. Boyd Wants but the haulers took us to court.” in 15 minutes, or one lightning (LOSAP), was amended to enhance The ordinance was nullified in strike within a five-mile radius an individual’s benefits based on 1994 by Union County Superior of the main device at Memorial years of service. To Improve Literacy in Workforce Court Assignment Judge Edward Pool. The plan must be adopted and Beglin Jr., who cited that it went received by the Union County Clerk • The main switchboard also By SUSAN M. DYCKMAN Under the Labor Department’s ployment Insurance Tax Fund. against state legislation. State law shows a digital read-out and by Friday, August 25, in order to be Specially Written for The Westfield Leader proposal, the literacy component The commissioner’s hope is that, prohibits towns like Westfield, whose beeps when it detects lightning included on the November election would be funded through a realloca- once people learn the basics, they businesses and inhabitants solicit ballot. Officially sworn in as New Jersey’s within the 10-30 mile range or new Labor Commissioner on July tion of some money from the Unem- CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 private garbage collection compa- cloud to cloud lightning activ- “Previously, we were giving ben- nies, from limiting the pickup hours efits only on percentage of their at- 26, Westfield resident Mark Boyd ity. has set his sights on improving lit- of haulers. If the town contracted This read-out allows officials tendance; now we’re giving them a with a waste collector to haul away percentage of their attendance plus eracy among New Jersey workers. to track the direction and speed With six and a half years’ experi- residents’ garbage bags, then it would of passing storms. numbers of years of service,” ex- have the right to restrict the times plained Town Attorney William S. ence in the state’s Department of The warning alarm sounds like Labor, Mr. Boyd has seen first-hand when trucks can roam the streets as a single-toned siren and lasts Jeremiah, 2nd. In addition, benefits part of the agreement. would be based on the level of atten- how a lack of basic skills severely approximately 15 seconds. An inhibits a person’s ability to take Anthony Cortese, who is a partner all-clear dual tone alarm will dance on duty shifts. in the waste collection firm Arm Squad members who have left the advantage of the booming economy sound at each location when no New Jersey enjoys today. Carting with his brother, Ronald, is lightning strikes have been de- organization before being vested (five worried about the fate of small col- years of continuous service) can still “It’s a fundamental problem in tected within a 10-mile radius New Jersey,” he said.